BEIJING – Increasing pressure from the major global powers is giving the Chinese government more opportunities to showcase its new approach to international affairs.
In the first action coordinated by Western nations since US President Joe Biden took office, the US, EU, UK and Canada imposed sanctions on Chinese officials on Monday. Countries cited human rights abuses in China’s Xinjiang region – accusations that Beijing has repeatedly denied.
China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded quickly with its own comprehensive list of sanctions against EU entities and individuals. These people and their families will not be able to enter mainland China, Hong Kong or Macau, and associated companies and institutions will be prevented from doing business with China, according to the ministry.
The level of detail about the consequences set out in these sanctions and those announced at the time Biden was taking office is different from the more vague sanctions of the past, pointed out Nick Turner, a lawyer at the Steptoe & Johnson law firm in Hong Kong. . Its topic coverage includes economic sanctions.
“It demonstrates the natural course of evolution for a great power,” said Turner. “We could only frame that in terms of reactions to the West, but … I think this is a natural course of development.”
China has grown to become the second largest economy in the world in the past two decades. Its leader, President Xi Jinping, has abolished term limits and pushed for greater internal control, while allowing the development of a more aggressive diplomatic voice. In July, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs also established the Xi Jinping Thinking about Diplomacy research center in Beijing.
And during an annual parliamentary meeting earlier this month, China announced it would push forward legislation in foreign affairs, including countermeasures for sanctions.
Robert Daly, director of the Kissinger Institute on China and the United States, said that in retaliation for the latest sanctions, Beijing could announce similar restrictions on individuals from Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States
“You will notice that under Xi Jinping it has become a diplomatic signature movement that China will mirror and amplify everything that is done to it, in the form of sanctions,” Daly said on CNBC’s “Street Signs Asia” on Tuesday. market.
– CNBC’s Yen Nee Lee contributed to this report.